I agree that attaching your phone to the horse is never a good idea.
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SOmeone said upthread =
yeahbutt… there is zero cell service where i live. None. My iPhone is basically a just my trendy little camera.
Ah. So if you were injured they wouldn’t be able to track your location through your phone?
Do you ride out, or only near your home?
You must have someone that would notice if you were missing and who would feed your many beasties…
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i could be SOL actually. no way to track me, nope. And, well…it would be dark before anyone would know i went missing and if it were a joy-ride she would have zero idea where to begin looking, (323 acres…lots of woods/lots of hills)even IF she were mobile. They’d have to call for a search and rescue team i’m afraid.
When i ride out to check sheep or fences or something i usually let her know i’m riding and appx where i’m going.
I actually have dogs that could find me, and a mule too, if she only knew how to operate them.
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Literally didn’t say I am against the grab strap. I am also not entirely against grabbing the pommel, just not something I go for (if you cared to read the rest of my posts), or use personally.
I do think if you have to grab the pommel to steady yourself, regularly, then you should consider whether or not you’re ready for competition. I don’t find that to be outlandish or against a grab strap. As I also said previously, if it’s during a spook or something, that’s different, and I understand that. If you have the oddball “oh shit” moment, then ok.
So please, actually read my posts before you quote a snippet to fit your narrative. If you think that one sentence you quoted from this “someone” means I’m against a grab strap entirely, try again. 
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First off, your snarkiness is not appreciated.
Secondly, at that point in the conversation, folks were pretty much combining grabbing the pommel with grabbing the grab strap. The conversation is about showing and legality. Saying that using it (whichever) means you are not ready to show is pretty much a note of disapproval.
And Finally, It addition of your quote was after an edit. SO, in fact, I DID have to go back and find the post I was referring to and quote it. Yes, my bad, I left the “Someone…” part in. Get over it.
I had to use one for about the first minute of a test this spring, spooky first ride in the Rolex arena on a very cold, wet and windy day.
Nothing was said about it, my super tense horse got all the comments 
but we survived intact so it was a win.
That strap saves me more often than I care to admit, I always have at least a couple fingers through it on a hack.
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Aren’t you lovely. My post wasn’t that snarky, yours just came off as odd to me. You misinterpreted my post and/or assigned a meaning to it that wasn’t what I had said. I also am unclear about what you’re trying to say about an edited post.
My post was post #2, so at that point in the conversation no one was combining anything. Grab staps were then brought up shortly after, yes, but not at the time of the post which you quoted (post #2). So at that point, I was specifically talking about the pommel, if that was unclear.
“The conversation is about showing and legality. Saying that using it (whichever) means you are not ready to show is pretty much a note of disapproval.”
I think the conversation is about showing and legality, as well as using a grab strap or grabbing the pommel in general. The discussion evolved a bit and some people went into how and why they’d use it or how they’d equip their tack with one. So no, it wasn’t only about showing and legality, but it did start there.
If you want to be so obtuse as to thinking me saying grabbing THE POMMEL (so not a grab strap) means you are possibly not ready to compete = total disapproval of all things grabbing pommel and/or grab strap, that’s on you. It’s not what I said. I don’t appreciate things being misconstrued or twisted. A genuine misunderstanding is fine.
Get over it.
I agree with @CanteringCarrot
To begin with in lessons you are told to hold the pommel and pull yourself in when doing a canter.
It can also be used to start with for sitting trot. This is when the instructor has control of the horse not the student.
Once you are past that point, holding the pommel is no longer used. If you are not past that point then you are not ready for real showing. Showing at your instructor’s place against other students and parents watching. Yes.
A grab strap is a different thing and you never want to break the first rule of riding. When judges structures are fluttering, planes going overhead, etc, etc,etc. Do not fall off.
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I agree - the OH S**T STRAP I grab, if the mane is braided, or if I am feeling insecure and have a bad feeling – the pommel? might break your knuckles… don’t know how one would do that… when in doubt I grab mane! better than the OSS! edited to add I only do this if the horse is acting up or if I loose balance - I am not a good rider so go for the safety spots when needed! 
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Again, I disagree with both you and Cantering Carrot.
My trainer shows PSG. Her horse is 18.1 and can get extra lofty in the show ring. She has, on occasion, in the show ring, grabbed her grab strap and/or pommel. Her scores and medals reflect the opposite of your opinion.
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But you did say “If you need to steady yourself by grabbing the pommel, perhaps you aren’t ready for competition.”
There are MANY upper level riders who are quite successful that have grabbed the pommel or strap in competition. So I chose to think that if they do it, and their scores aren’t taking a hit, then it must mean that they are deserving of being allowed to compete.
I also think it’s helpful if when we’re talking about rules in one country that people specify where they are in response. It gets confusing when someone in say Canada is adamant that the rule doesn’t exist when the OP is talking about rules in the US.
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“On occasion” I have no issue with that, so I’m not sure how we disagree. As a regular thing, I don’t necessarily agree with. To clarify my earlier posts, I mean that if you regularly and/or heavily rely on grabbing the pommel or a grab strap (since the conversation has gone there), I do think you(g) might not be ready to compete and/or should revisit some things in your training.
You’re free to disagree with me, but I think some are taking my earlier statement to an unintended extreme.
I’ve not seen anyone do this where I compete. I don’t know what it says in our rules (I’d have to look), just because I don’t do it. That doesn’t mean that those who do are inferior or wrong. It’s just not my “go-to” and they’re rarely used around here/the circles I train and compete in. Purely my personal experience, but again, I’ve no issue the occasional use or use during during “oh sh*t” moment. I do have some issue with really relying heavily on it/regularly/very often during a ride to keep balanced. I imagine many people don’t do this except if they’re a beginner or have balance issues. Therefore I’m not including individuals such as your trainer in this category.
I hope that clarifies things a bit.
Yes, I did say that. Please read my other posts that further clarify my point that I intended to make.
As for scores taking a hit or not, I don’t know. Here I think it would be mentioned. Elsewhere, I’m not sure. I don’t argue that many successful riders have done this.
I’m not adamant about the rule existing or not. If it does, it does, if it doesn’t, then it doesn’t 
seemed odd at first, but possibly might be relative to my personal training and competing experiences.
For those of you who have used a grab strap: How long is it, how did you adjust it, and how did you hold it when needed? I have tried using a strap, both with a silly horse, and more recently to use to aid in steadying my hands (trying to build muscle memory) On the silly horse, hooking a pinky seemed like asking for a broken finger and it wasnt long enough to hold much more. How do you make it work?
With a dressage saddle you are safer when you are experienced enough to be ‘in the saddle’ or ‘down in the saddle,’ or ‘not top heavy’.
This means if the horse shies you go with it and you are not left behind where the horse was when it shied. This comes with riding experience and why you will hear western riders call an English saddle an ejection seat. In our case the western saddles did not have a horn like American Western saddles, they used Australian Stock saddles with ears above your thighs. They also ride with their feet at their shoulders in a chair position.
With the trainer above, riding a Prix St George horse, grabbing a pommel or grab strap, we have no idea why. They would long ago have been experienced enough not to do that on lower level horses. Now they are older and riding an upper level lofty horse. It could be because of an injury, because of age, because of pain, because of fear, because the rider does not have the core muscle for the level they are riding, because they are riding a horse with a terrible trot that none if us could ride either without grabbing the pommel, because their body won’t do what it used to, or a myriad of other problems we dont know of.
As to the rule - in the Dressage Judge lectures I have been to, this has never been discussed and I have never seen it in group lessons above beginners or tests I have judged, so it is not a common thing to do in dressage in my neck of the woods, which is Australia.
This could be that most people in Australia own their own horse/s and keep them at home and ride more out of lessons that they do in lessons, so they have a lot more hours in the saddle than someone who only rides in lessons.
All of your reasons assume some defect or problem in the rider. Perhaps it is none of those? Riders in America do also ride outside of lessons, and the PSG trainer mentioned above rides 8 horses a day?
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I have this, it’s much longer than a standard Oh Crap strap.
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Having had another rider “rat me out” for non existent rules they felt existed but had never actually read in the rulebook (or had never read the rulebook at all?) I appreciate other riders knowing the rules. There are a lot of rules that only exist in the minds of railbirds or bad trainers and we have to be mindful when we reference rules in person or on the internet.
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